Dennis Faas

Candice W. writes: " Dear Dennis, I was hoping that maybe you could help me: I found your website though a search. Lately, I've been getting a bunch of returned emails from people I don't even know, and most of these emails contain viruses ... I ... have written to Hotmail's tech support, but all I get is automated responses telling me that it doesn't pertain to my hotmail account. But, I beg to differ because it is my account, and it's a huge problem! Can you tell me what I can do to get this to stop? " My Response: The problem Candice is experiencing is due to a Virus called SoBig, ... (view more)

I've got some good news and some bad news to discuss in this issue of the Gazette. First, the bad news: Internet Outage Last Week My Internet connection was interrupted last Thursday at around 1PM: only a few hours after initiating the command to ... begin sending out the newsletter. Once the connection was lost, the newsletter stopped sending out and wasn't able to resume until late Saturday afternoon. From the last issue of the Gazette, you may recall that I started a "good-will fund raiser" to help support this web site. In order to entice Readers to show their support, all the ... (view more)

I was asked to provide an unbiased review of a program called WinBackup v1.63 by Li Utilities. OK -- I'm up for the challenge. WinBackup: Installation Installing WinBackup on my Windows XP was simple. After executing the setup file and specifying ... where I wanted the program files installed to, WinBackup completed the installation without asking any further questions. WinBackup: Intuitive Interface Since I'm a self-proclaimed 'Pro user', I decided to shut off the WinBackup Wizard after only viewing the first 3 screens. At this point, I chose to dive into the program blindly, in order to get a ... (view more)

Recall -- Last week, Bryan M. submitted a spoof video file about Macintosh computers: " I came across a very humorous video file about the experiences of using a Macintosh computer. The video is a spoof on those Macintosh commercials which were ... aired on TV a little while back. A typical scenario features big corporate executives who are frustrated by using a Windows PC at their workplace. " Macintosh commercial spoof video file Since then, numerous Readers have asked where they could download video (using_a_mac.wmv) in a in a different file format so that their Mac friends could ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Mary J. writes: " The problem I'm having is with my Windows 2000 OS. For some reason, I lost the options in my search category (Start -> Search). Do you have any idea how I can get them back? I don't remember now what I had ... installed that caused this problem, but it also happened to me on a computer that was running Windows ME. " My Response: Unfortunately, I have never experienced this problem before -- so I can only guess on a solution. I tried searching Google and Microsoft's Knowledge Base for an answer, but had a heck of a time trying to figure out what to ... (view more)

Yesterday's feature article was about file recovery after a hard drive crash. File recovery after hard drive crash? In a nutshell, I outlined some steps one might take in order to recover files from a corrupt hard drive. I also asked Infopackets ... Readers if they knew of any good freeware or commercial file recovery software which could undelete / recover lost data. Here are some of the responses I received: Haukur B. and Pippe both recommended a program called "PC Inspector File Recovery". From the web site: " PC Inspector File Recovery is a data recovery program with support ... (view more)

Bryan M. writes: " Dear Dennis, I came across a very humorous video file about the experiences of using a Macintosh computer. The video is a spoof on those Macintosh commercials which were aired on TV a little while back. A typical scenario features ... big corporate executives who are frustrated by using a Windows PC at their workplace. In the end of it all, the execs in the commercial say that they prefer to use Mac's because they're simpler to use. Anyway, it's something to that effect. I thought you might enjoy this video and pass it on to your readers. " My Response: I viewed the ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Darlene M. writes: " Dear Dennis, My hard drive crashed and had to replace it. Unfortunately, the techs did not install any of my old programs onto the hard drive. I don't know much about the computer and I want install my ... programs again. What can you suggest? " My Response: You will need to acquire and reinstall all of your programs (IE: setup.exe / run-time executables) onto your new hard drive. You cannot copy over the old programs and have them run on your new drive: they need to be reinstalled onto Windows. I while back, I wrote an article entitled, "The ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Doug D. writes: " Dear Dennis, I get a lot out of your newsletter and hope you can help me. There are many files listed in my Windows Startup, and some of the names appear more than once. I even have programs listed on my computer ... which no longer exist! How do I remove any unneeded listings? I removed the programs from the register using a RegCleaner, but they are still listed in the Startup. " My Response: I get asked this question quite often, and have commented on it before in the newsletter. The truth is that many of the programs listed in the Startup can be ... (view more)

How do you manage your digital pictures? A few weeks ago, Adriel Tan of E-Book Systems, Inc. sent me an email and asked if I would review a digital photo management program, called FlipAlbum 5 Suite. I thought that this would be a great opportunity ... to explore something new, especially since the software which came with my digital camera does not allow me to share my photos easily with friends. With this in mind, I downloaded and installed FlipAlbum 5 Suite on my machine. Here's what I found: FlipAlbum 5 Suite: a quick list of Features FlipAlbum is a unique software that organizes photos on ... (view more)